President's Office

Anne Frank said, “How wonderful that no one need wait a single moment to improve the world.” This aspiration has been ever present at Berea College, but on September 1st we will be celebrating not only the new school year, but also a campus first. That day will be our first ever Giving Day, as we invite our supporters to help us raise $25,000 in 25 hours* through online giving.

A new school year is always an exciting time on campus. Welcoming a new class of Bereans to our community always reminds us of why these students come. First and foremost they are here because they are outstanding students who have earned their place among the best and brightest. Second, but just as importantly, they are only able to be here because of the generosity of our supporters who have made it possible to provide a high-quality education without charging tuition.

Laurie and I always think especially about what arrival day means for our first-generation college students and their families.  As we help the incoming class move in, we encounter their excitement, their pride, their anxiety, all their hopes and fears as they face such an important transition and transformation in their lives.  In that situation I am so reassured that our faculty and staff care deeply and have the experience successfully guide them through the life-changing and transformational experience that can only happen here. Berea’s mission isn’t just talk. It’s deeply rooted within the hearts and souls of everyone on campus. This passion and commitment to our mission are the reasons we are celebrating Giving Day.

We have made promises to these students, a high-quality education and an experience of learning through work. While other schools depend on the tuition, Berea runs on commitment, on the support of our friends and alumni, who believe that the education of deserving students should not depend on their ability to pay.

This September 1st, you can help us keep that promise by making a gift online, joining us and the whole community in celebrating another year of Berea’s Great Commitments. Will you help us keep that promise?

To stay updated on our progress during Berea’s first ever Giving Day click here: https://www.berea.edu/give/givingday/

Follow Berea College on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat and stay tuned on September 1st for more information on how you can join in the fun on Berea’s first ever Giving Day.

* OK, a little longer than the typical day

From left to right, Craig Turner, Michael Benson, Lyle Roelofs, and Janna Vice.

Last Friday morning, I had the great pleasure of attending Commencement at Eastern Kentucky University at the invitation of President Michael Benson.   Actually, I attended just one of five of the commencement celebrations, the one for the school of arts and sciences.  What a thrill to celebrate with over 700 new “eternal colonels.”  It was also a pleasure to meet other leaders at EKU including Craig Turner, chair of the board of regents, John Wade, dean of the college of arts and sciences, and Dr. Janna Vice, provost.  The inspirational commencement address was provided by graduating student, Ms. Jenna Sehmann.

It was also a thrill when one of the graduates stopped to greet me as she walked across the stage, introducing herself as Shelby Williams, 2014 graduate from Berea College, and now holder of an EKU Master’s degree in industrial and organizational psychology. Seeing Shelby reminded me of how closely linked Berea College and EKU really are.

Both strongly emphasize serving students from Eastern Kentucky, both serve a large number of first generation students, and we both celebrate the first generation graduates by asking them to stand for applause during commencement. Both have very fine student concert choirs and other vocal groups, but EKU has a steel band that played the recessional. Together we provide access to higher education in a state where only 21% of adults hold a college degree, so we both have a LOT more work to do to ensure the commonwealth has an outstanding work force and all of its citizens have the opportunity to pursue the careers that interest them and to live lives of fulfillment.

So, despite the differences in our size and the fact that one of our two institutions is private college and the other is a public university, enjoying support from the commonwealth, we have a lot in common and a shared task, providing an affordable education to those who need it.    With the large number of young people (and also some adults) who desire a college education in Kentucky, both our institutions are essential, so while I am very proud that Berea offers a no-tuition education to all the students it admits, there is no question that our commonwealth urgently needs the public university system to be affordable and accessible.

Berea College enrolled 194 students from Kentucky in the Fall of 2015, about 45% of our total of 432 incoming students.  Each year about 45,000 students graduate from Kentucky high schools, and around 60% of them (27,000) plan to attend college.    Berea and the other private schools in Kentucky are doing their utmost to educate the young citizens of the Commonwealth, but serving all these students requires supporting large, public universities like EKU.

From that point of view, recent developments in Frankfort regarding funding for the public universities in our state are very discouraging.  Institutions were asked to accept a reduction in state support in the current fiscal year, and also to anticipate further reductions in the two upcoming years covered by the biennial budget just approved.  Although these changes do not impact private institutions directly, they still raise big concerns.  Access and affordability will of necessity be reduced as the public institutions respond to these reductions by increasing tuition or decreasing programs offered to students, or a combination of both.

Recently there have been conversations in our state about whether higher education is a right or a privilege, and whether we citizens want our tax dollars to support post-secondary education. I certainly do want the taxes I pay to support higher education for our young citizens. And in my opinion the right or privilege debate misses the most important point. If Kentucky is to remain competitive in the 21st century, 21% of adults in the state holding a college degree simply will not cut it!  So, whether you consider it a right or a privilege, we should really be thinking of higher education as a necessary and worthwhile investment. We need a partnership between public institutions and private institutions to move us forward in educating more young Kentuckians, and we need the support of state government in Frankfort to do so.

Those concerns did not diminish the celebration of Berea’s 240 graduates two weeks ago or EKU’s 2,700 new “eternal colonels” last weekend, and rightly so, but they do very much deserve to be on the minds of all Kentuckians.

Kaitlyn Reasoner ’16, Mary Robert Garrett, and Teri Thesing head out for a final run.

For me, last week’s graduation festivities kicked off with an invitation from Mary Robert Garrett, associate professor of chemistry and original member of the Berea College President’s Run Club (BCPRC), to join her and Kaitlyn Reasoner ’16 for a final outing. The BCPRC was formed in 2012 as a way to promote community and healthy activity, and Mary Robert and Kaitlyn have participated with the group that typically meets each Tuesday and Thursday for a run (or walk) along the Beebe-White trail.

Mary Robert’s invitation brought into sharp focus for me the fact that graduation would be a little different this year. I’ve had the privilege to attend many graduation ceremonies over the years, and each contains a mixture of excitement and loss.  Excitement for the accomplishments of the graduates and their future plans, but tinged with the sadness of all those departures from our community.

Helping new students move in to their dorms. Photo taken on August 18, 2012.

So, what makes this year different than the first three?  Simply put, Laurie and I began our own Berea story with this class of students. They were the first that we welcomed to campus, the first to join us for a run or a walk, and the ones with whom we learned the ins and outs of Berea. Together we have seen the campus change with the renovation of several residence halls and the addition of Deep Green, shared Berea traditions, like Mountain Day, and created traditions of our own, like the Green Games and the new up-tempo version of “Berea, Berea, Beloved.”

While we have shared and learned much with these students, our paths are now diverging. For the recent graduates, the new path leads outwards on a journey to new communities, new places of work or study, and to whatever comes next for them.  I am certain that Berea has prepared them to branch out and take full advantage of all the opportunities that are before them.

Laurie and I will be staying, of course, continuing the process of growing deep roots here. In a few months, we will have the pleasure of welcoming the class of 2020 to campus.  Though the class of 2020 won’t share the campus with the class of 2016, that class gets credit for a lot of what we have learned about Berea, and so the class of 2020 and future classes are actually in their debt.  From the class of 2016 we learned that every Berea student is a story of ambition, resilience, and accomplishment; we learned of their passionate interests in art, music, athletics, student government, debate, and much more; we learned last November through our Unity Rally how much they care for one another; we learned to ascend the Pinnacles to celebrate sunrise with them on Mountain Day; and, of course, we learned that college students can develop an interest in exercise and fitness, even running or walking in the early morning.

One community all the 2016 graduate have joined is the community of Berea College alumni, and this is something in which I want to encourage all our graduates to participate. As you branch out, share your stories through the Berea College Magazine, connect with the college on social media, and, when time permits, let your own path circle back to campus for Homecoming, Summer Reunion, or anytime the opportunity arises. That’s how you will join us in staying rooted in Berea.

Faithfully yours,

Lyle

P.S.  The feelings of one staying rooted as graduates branch out were rather beautifully captured by my favorite 19th century poet, John Greenleaf Whitter in his lovely poem, “At School Close,”  written about the time of Berea’s first commencement!

The campaign leadership for the Margaret A. Cargill building breaking ground on the project: Bernadine Douglas, vice president for alumni and college relations; Chad Berry, vice president for academic affairs; Charlotte Beason, trustee, Hal Moses, trustee chair; Lyle Roelofs, president; and Matt Saderholm, division I chair.

Very few days are truly transformative for an institution, particularly at an institution so mindful of its mission and traditions as Berea College, but April 21st, 2016 will certainly be remembered as one of those days for us. On Thursday, with the support of friends and alumni, I was privileged to help break ground on the Margaret A. Cargill Natural Sciences and Health building and to officially kickoff the campaign to raise $10 million in support of the project.

Members of the campaign leadership are joined by Dr. Warren “Gene” Bulman ’48 founder of Ohio Semitronics, Inc., his daughter, Linda Iben, and Laurie Roelofs, first lady.

Prior to the groundbreaking, members of the Berea community had a day-long opportunity to participate in demonstrations highlighting how science affects all aspects of our everyday lives. There were demonstrations of the mathematics of quilting, the chemistry of jewelry making and much more by faculty, staff, and students. Showing these connections is symbolic is one way to highlight the themes that guided our planning for the building: the value of an interdisciplinary approach to the physical and health sciences; the opportunities for leveraging the innate interest of scientific ideas for outreach; and the great potential of active learning in mathematics the sciences.  These themes will be brought to life in the new building. Not only will the programs be housed under one roof, but the building will also incorporate many glass walls so that everyone entering the building will see intense activity in the labs and classrooms and meeting spaces, will see students learning science by doing science and will see scientific subjects brought to life in a state-of-the-art visualization facility.

Members of the science and nursing faculty pose alongside Lyle Roelofs and Chad Berry.

In addition to being visible, the rooms will also be adaptable, allowing classes to move easily from lecture and discussion to lab work.  An additional advantage of the new building is an increase in overall lab space, which will permit students to run more complex experiments that extend over multiple laboratory sessions, work of the type that will better prepare them for graduate school or careers in industry or healthcare related fields.

I hope this message conveys a sense of the great excitement the new building is bringing to campus. Over the next two years, I will offer periodic updates about construction through this blog.  Take a look, too, at our campaign website, which will continue to document the progress of the construction and of the campaign.

The Berea College Board of Trustees poses with Lyle and Laurie Roelofs.

Fellow Bereans,

As we approach the close of Women’s History Month, the time seems right to celebrate past contributions and give thanks for the efforts to shape our future regarding the sixth Great Commitment. From Matilda Fee onward, Berea has been fortunate to have so many of our community committed to gender inclusion and equity, and in this blog I’d like to draw special attention to the Women’s and Gender Studies (WGS) program. That program’s formal origin came in 1991 when the faculty recognized Women’s Studies as a minor in order to promote gender awareness across the campus, and it became a major 10 years later in 2001.

While one tends to think of academic programs in terms of opportunities for students, it is important to recognize, too, how the WGS program and the values it stands for strengthen the whole community – faculty, staff as well as students. As Berea’s founders knew more than 160 years ago, a healthy community develops and draws on the perspectives, strengths and abilities of all its members, which is why Berea began as a coeducational institution committed to diversity and inclusion. And, it is why today we are committed to learning to see beyond the simple binaries of “male and female” or “masculine and feminine” or “gay or straight” and to understanding gender identity as the richer spectrum it really is. The WGS program plays an essential role in helping our community as it learns to be a welcoming and supportive environment for its transgender members as well.

From left to right: Peggy Rivage-Seul, professor and program chair of WGS; Carrie Jadud, WGS program associate; Shahwar Ali ‘16, WGS labor student; Marcella Fitisone ‘17, WGS major and labor student; Qrescent Mason, assistant professor of WGS

The practice of living out this commitment has changed over time. For most of the College’s history, it is fair to say that the male voice has been privileged. But, more recently, the WGS program has been instrumental in moving us toward a dialogue in which all voices are heard and valued. The signature program for creating this dialogue is “Peanut Butter and Gender,” a series of lunch meetings held 10-15 times per year where Bereans gather to share a simple meal, hear a presentation and then discuss a significant issue of the day. Past speakers include Dorothy Allison (author of Bastard out of Carolina), bell hooks (feminist author, social critic and distinguished professor-in-residence at Berea), Judy Chicago (artist and creator of the “Dinner Party”), Winona LaDuke (Native American activist, environmentalist, economist and writer), Lori Wallach (director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch), Vandana Shiva (author, physicist and biodiversity activist), Carol Browner (administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency), Nikki Giovanni (poet) and Gustavo Esteva (journalist and advisor to indigenous groups in Mexico). It is worth pausing for a moment to consider just how remarkable this line-up of visitors to a small school in Kentucky really is!

Laurie and I have enjoyed participating in supporting some of these wonderful visits, and I have been privileged to play a part in Berea College’s Women in Public Service Project, which has connected Berea College to influential woman leaders all over the world.

For all these reasons, I want to thank the members of the WGS faculty for making Berea a stronger, more thoughtful, community. Special thanks to Barbra Wade, the first chair of the program, to Peggy Rivage-Seul, who currently guides the program and organizes “Peanut Butter and Gender,” and to Linda Strong-Leek, past program chair, division chair and now Berea’s vice president for diversity and inclusion. Please join me in actively supporting Peggy, Linda and the entire WGS program as they provide leadership in living out our sixth Great Commitment and our ongoing effort to be a community that welcomes “all peoples of the earth.”

Faithfully yours,

Lyle

You can follow me on Twitter @RoelofsLyle.